WGA Notifications updated for Windows XP Professional

Microsoft has improved the detection of counterfeit versions of Windows XP …

Microsoft this week is preparing to update Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Notifications for Windows XP. The new version includes the usual updates to validation that improve WGA's ability to detect invalid product keys and other attempts to circumvent product activation. Since Windows XP Professional is the most often counterfeited version of XP, Microsoft has focused on including the latest validation information, such as recently stolen or misused product keys, for the Professional edition. Customers who installed the last update will simply have their validation information updated without needing to go through the install process again.

According to the Windows Genuine Advantage blog, the Genuine Windows team has improved the design making it easier to install the update and to stay up to date with the latest release of WGA. Upon close inspection though, this is not so new. Once the update has been downloaded by Automatic Updates (completely in line with your existing AU settings) after the next login or reboot the install wizard (pictured above) will be presented to the user and they will be able to choose whether to install the update. This does not seem to be any different from the changes made in August 2008. In short, the tweaks appear to strictly detection-related, and WGA should still perform the same way as it did previously.

If, for whatever reason, you want to get the update early, it is available on the Microsoft Download Center (1.5MB). The version number is 1.9.0040.0.